The big match lowdown - Boro 0, West Brom 5

BORO’S heads went down quickly and collectively when West Brom got two fortunate breaks in the opening half- hour.

SEAN St Ledger must have spent Saturday night sitting around in a state of shellshock.

The dazed Irish international must have wondered what he had let himself in for after witnessing such a dispassionate and taciturn Boro performance on his debut.

If it’s any consolation Sean, it probably won’t be as bad as this again throughout the rest of the campaign.

Boro, with St Ledger making his first start, and Caleb Folan on the field for 60 minutes, played like a bunch of complete strangers.

There was no cohesion anywhere on the pitch and no belief once the team found themselves two goals down on the half hour.

The biggest problem was arguably at centre-back. No doubt St Ledger tried hard to play his normal game, but David Wheater never seemed to know where he was, and was pulled all over the shop.

Hopefully the duo will spend a lot of time working together as a partnership on the training ground this week, so that the problem is sorted before the Coventry game.

That’s not pointing fingers at individuals. The whole team fell apart after the second goal, and it was shocking to witness.

It would still be a mistake to go overboard about this one-off shambolic performance.

No doubt Gareth Southgate will spend most of his time this week reaffirming to his players that they are much better than this.

But it would be wrong to write off this annihilation simply as a bad day at the office.

Boro collapsed like a pack of cards when things went against them. This worrying failure to compete under difficult circumstances warrants attention, and action.

Even so, it’s a fact that the whole outcome hinged on two unfortunate first half incidents.

If ineffective referee Trevor Kettle had spotted the foul on Rhys Williams in the centre circle, two minutes before West Brom’s opening goal, then every ensuing kick would have been different.

But the ref missed it, correctly spotted Williams’ follow-up foul soon afterwards, and then had to face regular booing from the moment Chris Brunt’s free-kick was deflected into the net off the back of Julio Arca.

The opening goal was pivotal in the game, because it gave the Baggies a spring in their steps.

Boro looked decidedly uneasy but they still could have come back, had not Danny Coyne’s attempted clearance fallen at the feet of Brunt, for the former Boro youth team player to guide the ball into an unguarded net for goal No 2.

It would have been better for everybody if Mr Kettle had blown his final whistle there and then, because all sense of belief was sucked out of the Boro players at that moment.

The third goal, from the outstanding Yousuff Mulumbu, just before the interval, was the best of the game and finished Boro off for good.

By the final 15 minutes they were physically and mentally shot and end of the game was a huge relief.

Despite the first half controversy, it’s likely that Boro would still have lost this game - but maybe not 5-0.

West Brom were physically stronger, quicker on to the ball, had better movement around the pitch and displayed supreme confidence.

This suggests they are better equipped to challenge for one of the top two places, especially as potentially they will get better when injured players return.

From Boro’s point of view they need to bed St Ledger and Folan in very quickly, while it’s worth noting that there were three other relatively new boys in Saturday’s squad, in addition to players like Rhys Williams, Marvin Emnes and Jonathan Grounds, who are just breaking through.

Even so, in looking for positive individual performances, it was virtually impossible.

But the Gazette’s policy is to award stars when everybody plays badly, in addition to when they play well, so that the final ratings gave a true reading for the whole season.

With that in mind Mark Yeates, who struggled in the first half, earned the three stars because his committed second half display was exactly what was needed from the whole side.

St Ledger looks a potentially good signing, despite his uncertainty over what was going on around him, while, Danny Coyne, ironically, can hardly be criticised because all five goals were arguably unstoppable.

Key moments

18 mins: Rhys Williams is pushed over by an elbow in the back by Roman Bednar inside the penalty area, but referee Trevor Kettle waves play on. Within seconds Williams then brings down Bednar from behind and Mr Kettle correctly awards a free-kick this time. Chris Brunt steps forward to take the set piece which takes a deflection off Julio Arca’s back and wrong-foots Danny Coyne as it enters the net.

31 mins: Graeme Dorrans chases a long ball forward and Coyne has to race out of his area to boot clear. But the clearance lands at the feet of Brunt, who volleys the ball into the unguarded net from 35 yards.

42 mins: Yousuff Mulumbu starts and finishes a clinical goal. The midfielder is involved in a passing movement down the Boro’s right flank and when Dorrans chips the ball into the goalmouth, Mulumbu cleverly diverts his header into the top corner of the net.

56 mins: Marvin Emnes sends over a fine cross from the left which is glanced wide by a header from Mark Yeates.

73 min: Brunt should have completed his hat-trick after David Wheater half-clears a low cross from Jerome Thomas, but the former Boro youth player volleys wide from the edge of the box.

79 mins: Boro are ripped to shreds by a fine West Brom inter-passing move which results in Gianni Zuiverloon side-footing over the bar.

81 mins: Dorrans chips into the Boro goalmouth and when Jonathan Grounds heads out the ball is picked up by Bednar, who evades two challenges before picking his spot in the right- hand corner.

89 mins: Dorran lays a pass out to the left for Thomas, who goes on a weaving run, beats Tony McMahon inside the box and places his shot past the advancing Coyne.

Opposition view

BAGGIES boss Roberto Di Matteo had some sympathy for Boro - for meeting Albion on a good day.

He said: "Middlesbrough are a good team. I am sure they will bounce back.

"They were just a bit unlucky to be playing us. We knew that it was a big game. You dream of going away from home and winning well but you do not expect to be 3-0 up at half-time.

"However we played very well. We did everything we planned to do and we scored some good goals.

"What pleased me was that we did even better in the second half. Sometimes you worry that you might concede a goal and let the opposition back into the game, but we didn’t allow that to happen and we went and scored more goals."

Di Matteo rated it as was one of the Baggies’ best performances of the campaign so far, but reckons the best is still to come.

He said: "It is nice to be top of the league but we are only eight games into the season. What is good about being in this position is that we know we can get better.

"We have players due to come back from injury, like James Morrison, and I am sure that the team will get stronger as we go along."

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